I never realized how 6 and a half days can seem like a lifetime. My time so far in Copenhagen has been great, I cannot wait to walk you all through it.

Saturday – Arrival Day

Saturday my flight arrived a half hour early – which I did not know was possible – and I landed in Copenhagen at a quarter to 7 in the morning. One of my pre-departure worries was that I wouldn’t be able to find the meet up location for the shuttle to my housing, so I was very revealed and grateful when I saw all of the DIS staff and volunteers lining the length of the airport and directing hundreds of sleepy arrivals to the hotel. The rest of the arrival day moved pretty slowly with lots of waiting around. I have to say I wasn’t entirely thrilled with having to wait three hours to get on my shuttle but the free coffee and snacks that DIS provided definitely helped me get through it. The rain and dark grey skies also weren’t the exact warm welcome I was hoping for. I spent the rest of arrival day settling in to my room at 62 Amagerbrogade and getting to know the area – a friend and I had stopped by a place called Kebab Land for lunch and the pomme frites really went along ways in warming me up and boosting my energy. That night DIS provided a pizza dinner for my RC and as we all started to get to know one another I was pretty surprised by how many small connections (hometowns, high school friends, etc). we all found we had with one another. Later, I rode the metro for the first time into center city and wow does it have the D train beat. It was fast, clean, and incredibly simple to understand so first time subway riders shouldn’t fret. The jet lag was pretty rough that first day so I was in bed by 23:00 and asleep by 23:05.

Sunday – Biking and Rain

Sunday morning was still cloudy and grey but the caramel latte and chocolate croissant from the Espresso House down the block from me were so good that I really didn’t mind. A little later that morning, my Community Adviser sent us out on a scavenger hunt that had us asking random Danes on the street what their favorite Danish pastry is (unsurprisingly the Danish) to finding the local library and even trying to speak a few Danish words ( my Danish is ikke godt ). That afternoon I took the metro and walked towards DIS with a few friends and picked up my bike from ABC Bikes. The workers at the shop were so friendly and helpful and I was in and out in less than 10 minutes despite the large crowd. I rode around the area a little bit and then started biked home to Amagerbro which was exactly the moment the skies opened up and a torrential downpour ensued. Despite the less than ideal weather, I was still able to navigate my way back using my wireless headphones and google maps (praise google).The ride took a bit longer than I expected and by the end of it I was completely drenched and exhausted. I proceeded to dry off for a few m̶i̶n̶u̶t̶e̶s̶ hours before grabbing dinner.

Monday – Paludan Café & Christianshavn

Monday was a big day with our DIS orientation at the Danish Academy of Music early that morning. The auditorium was beautiful and the speeches were surprisingly entertaining. But the real entertainment was the 2 opera singers who kicked off the whole event. This was definitely a surprise to me and most the people around me but it was really a unique way to start our semester. After orientation, I had perhaps my most photogenic breakfast of all time

A few friends and I stopped at Paludan Bog & Café – another spot not far from DIS. The restaurant is half cafe half library and couldn’t be more quaint.

Later, a few friends and I checked out the Christianshavn area and walked along the canals. The area was absolutely gorgeous and I could just picture myself sitting down and eating a picnic there as I watch the sail boats go by.

Tuesday – Towers & Tours

After a short housing orientation at DIS, we all headed out to climb the Round Tower. Round Tower or a Rundetaarn was built in the 17th-century as an astronomical observatory. The climb to the top wasn’t to bad – even for those afraid of heights – because the inside of the tower was a ramp instead of stairs. The views were great and as I looked over all of Copenhagen on that bright sunny morning, it really hit me that this was going to be my city for the next four months and that I have to make the most of it. My friends and I then went on a canal tour that left from the Ved Stranden area. It was a little less than a 100 KR for the hour long tour and we also received a coupon book and 20% off our next tour with our ticket. The good weather held out for our time on the water and we all got a great look at some of Copenhagen’s best landmarks (the Little Mermaid, Black Diamond, etc). Definitely an activity I’d recommend to do an a warmer day like my group did – when the sea spray is refreshing instead of freezing. We also learned that the Danish royal family has an official royal yacht (?!). We all agreed that the tour was a super fun and relatively cheap way to get a better mental map of the city.

Wednesday- food market core course orientation

Wednesday was a pretty low-key day compared to the rest of my week. This was mostly b/c everyone at DIS had their core course orientations at different times which made it a little more difficult to do group sight-seeing. But for lunch a few friends and I still were able to make it out to the Bridge Street Kitchen in Christianshavn right across the bridge from Nyhavn. The food market had about a dozen different stalls ranging from Japanese dumplings and noodles to fish and chips and even some grain bowls. I got fish and chips and it was absolutely delicious and a great portion size. We then went on the hunt for some ice cream which we found right across the bridge into Nyhavn. Something I’ve already noticed about Copenhagen is that here even their bridges are art – I mean like just like at this

The ice cream shop my friends and I found did gelato, gluten free, and vegan ice cream! The woman who helped us pick out our flavors was super sweet and told us we’d have to come back b/c the flavors change daily. I went for a chocolate gelato with a strawberry marshmallow fluff which is apparently a pretty common ice cream topping in Denmark. I then walked to my orientation for my core course, European Game of Politics, where I got to meet my professor who works for a think tank researching defense policy of the EU. At my orientation I learned that while on my study tour in Brussels, I’ll be given the opportunity to interview a EU parliamentarian!

Thursday – Classes from 8:30 – 5:50 … enough said

Thursday was my first day of classes at DIS. I started my day by rushing to the metro and heading straight to my core course. I was pretty surprised when the professor gave us as 15 minute break during our hour and twenty minute class – at home my classes are an hour and 15 minutes and we never get breaks. I then picked up a quick breakfast before going to probably the coolest named class ever Shadow Wars: Fake News and Hybrid Warfare. The is all about how Russia and other states use fake news in conjugation with other nontraditional tactics to forward their own interests. My last class of the day, Equality in Scandinavia: The Welfare State, was 3 hours which I definitely was not used to. The class moved at a pretty good pace but the last 15 minutes or so all I could think about was what I was going to make for dinner.

So all in all, its been a pretty busy week! The jetlag hit hard the first day but it hasn’t been to unbearable. I’m also pretty impressed with the amount of walking of done since I’ve been here – I’m averaging about 6 miles a day! I’m excited to meet the rest of my professors and get into a routine in the coming weeks. Right now, I’m still in awe of how beautiful this city is and in disbelief that this is my home. I’m looking forward to keeping you all up to date on my travels and adventures here in Copenhagen and I promise – I’ll try to be a bit more concise next time! I’m writing this blog post on Friday morning and I currently have plans to climb the tower at Church of Our Savior so you’ll see pictures next time, I promise!